Curiosity and Pride
by DiehardJavaJunkie14
Summary: Preseries oneshot... a young Rory observes her mother at work.


Four year old Rory sat on the chair behind the front desk, fascinated by the work that was done at the inn. To someone like Rory, the jobs that everyone did seemed so difficult. For as long as Rory could remember, Lorelai was the person who cleaned up other people's messes, and no matter what she did, Rory was proud of her mom. But today was a big day. Rory watched as Lorelai made much more of an effort on her appearance and was slightly confused.

"Mommy, you're getting really dressed up today!" Rory pointed out.

Lorelai nodded. "Yes, sweets, Mommy's filling in at the front desk today."

Rory nodded. "What do you do at the desk?"

"Well," Lorelai said, grabbing the hairbrush, "I have to check people's names off when they come in, I have to answer the phones, and I have to be really, really nice to EVERYBODY."

Rory smiled. "You're already nice to everyone!"

Lorelai scooped Rory up and began the trip to the Inn. "Thank you, sweets, that's very nice. I'm going to have you sit on the big tall chair behind the desk, so if you want to, I'll give you some paper and crayons, and you can draw some pictures. Then on my lunch break, we can head back home and I'll grab a few books for you to read. How's that sound?"

"Sounds awesome!" Rory squealed.

And now, as she sat on the big, tall chair, she was mesmerized by how Lorelai worked. She was intrigued from beginning to end. Rory watched Lorelai talk to Mia, then to the other maids, and then to some other people who came to the inn. When the inn got busy, she didn't get tired, and that was a mystery to Rory.

Rory had never really watched Lorelai work before, as she was always in and out of the rooms, cleaning and carrying things. She was always curious as to what Lorelai's job entailed. But Rory's curiosity turned to admiration rather quickly. Rory didn't catch the whole situation, but she noticed that when Mia was frazzled, Lorelai remained calm. She called someone named Carolyn to come and fill in for someone named Tina. Then she called someone else about the flowers for a wedding that day, and Rory figured the problem was solved when a man walked into the inn with more flowers than Rory had ever seen in one place.

"Oh, Travis, thank you very much," Lorelai said, signing the clipboard that Travis the flower man held out.

"No problem, Lorelai, sorry about the mix-up," he answered. "Give my best to Mia."

"Will do, Travis, thanks." Lorelai carried the flowers, bunch by bunch, to the next room and began to decorate. When the phone rang once again, Lorelai ran back into the lobby and answered it.

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking… " there was a long pause. "Lorelai Gilmore… no, I'm actually filling in for Maria today, is there something that I can assist you with?"

Rory's eyes widened as Lorelai put her hand on her forehead. Lorelai looked affected by what was going on for the first time thay day. She wanted to go and give her mom a hug and make everything better, but she knew it wasn't the time. She sat back and watched, as though she were watching a movie that she knew something bad was about to happen in.

"Double booked? Well, let me check the records, and we'll try to work this out for you, okay? Would you mind holding? Okay."

Lorelai fervently flipped through the reservation book, searching for a name and a date. She sighed in relief when she found what she was looking for.

"Mr. Schneider? Hi, uh, you're actually in luck, because the Bennetts cancelled for next weekend, so you can disregard the phone message Maria left you. You do have the suite for next weekend… oh, sir, it's no problem… I'm just doing my job… well, thank you very much, have a nice day." Lorelai hung up the phone and scooped Rory up from the chair.

"How about some lunch, kid?" she asked, giving Rory a kiss on the cheek.

Rory nodded. "Sure, Mommy."

Lorelai walked down the hall and lightly knocked on the doorframe to Mia's office before entering. She noticed that she was on the phone, and took a seat across from Mia, placing Rory on her lap. Lorelai played with Rory's hair, waiting patiently for Mia to get off the phone. Mia hung up and a huge smile creeped across her face.

"I just got a phone call from a guest who is extremely satisfied with a young lady's service," Mia said cheerfully.

Lorelai grinned. "Really? Oh, that's so great, Mia!"

"A Lorelai Gilmore was very pleasant to him on the phone and put his fears that his daughter's wedding was double-booked to rest. Is this true?" Mia asked.

"Well," Lorelai shrugged, "I helped him out as best as I could."

Mia stood up. "Well, Lorelai, I think we should put you on the desks now. What would you think of that?"

Lorelai let out a laugh of nervousness. "Me? On the desks? Seriously?"

"It comes with a raise, Lorelai, an extra two dollars an hour. I won't let you say no to this," Mia insisted in a stern, yet caring tone.

Lorelai sighed. "Do I need to sign something?" she asked.

Mia shook her head. "Nope. Just be here at nine tomorrow morning, and take the rest of the day off. Go take Rory out for some ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Rory said, just loud enough to be heard.

Lorelai nodded. "How's that sound?"

Rory smiled. "Really yummy. Can I have chocolate?"

"You can have any kind you want," Lorelai assured Rory. "Thank you Mia. Thank you so much."

Mia shook her head. "Don't thank me. Thank Maria. She called out today. Or you could thank that wonderful gentleman who called. But you did it all on your own."

Lorelai and Rory left the inn and when they were far away enough, Rory's curiosity peaked. "Mommy? Why did Mia talk to you?"

"Well, sweets, Mommy actually got promoted today. You know what that means, right?"

Rory nodded. "You got a better job than your old one! I'm proud of you, Mommy!"

"Thanks, sweets, I'm proud of me, too."


End file.
